While discussing plans for this year’s Manga Moveable Feasts — online events where a particular manga series or author is discussed during the same week at a variety of blogs and websites — we talked about what was involved in hosting. The Manga Moveable Feast host, in my opinion, should be responsible for the following:

Remind everyone of the upcoming MMF and getting them excited to participate. Give people enough warning that they can get the books! Some may use Inter-Library Loan, which needs a month or more of forethought.

Write an introduction post that explains why you wanted to host. Include the basics about the series or author you’re promoting — why are they important to cover? what books are included, and what is the premise of the series? why do you love it (or alternately, think it should be talked about even though you don’t)?

Set up a reference page (with a permanent URL) that others can link to as a one-stop reference about your MMF event. Ideally, this should be (yoursite).com/mmf.

Post daily with links from participants and additional commentary. Reward those who participate with attention and feedback.

Encourage others to participate — write to bloggers directly, or suggest topics for people to cover. Remind people that they don’t have to love the book in order to write about it, and alternate perspectives are welcome.

Keep attention and enthusiasm going for the full length of the event if possible. :) This is a commitment on your part, and it takes more than just putting up links, so please consider that in planning timing. The more you contribute, the more successful the event will be.

Bonus points for special features, like a guest panel or podcast or interview or contest or something new you came up with.

Note that this can also apply to anyone who wants to set up a cross-blog online event: enlist participants, explain what’s going on, make it easy for others to read about what you’re doing, and keep the energy up so people are excited to be part of it.